When a special commission of enquiry into the Catholic Church’s handling of clerical sex abusers Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher was released, Commissioner Margaret Cunneen was tough on church officials in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

She criticised former bishop Leo Clarke for knowing about McAlinden’s crimes against children but not reporting them to police, and senior priest Allan Hart, also for not reporting the offences.

She also criticised one of the most senior churchmen, the secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Father Brian Lucas. He elicited a confession from McAlinden in 1993 but Commissioner Cunneen said Fr Lucas should have reported it to the police.

Last night, the man who initiated the special commission, former premier Barry O’Farrell, used parliament to give his verdict on the way the Catholic Church in the Hunter Valley had responded to Commissioner Cunneen’s report. Specifically, calling on Fr Brian Lucas to resign from the Catholic Bishops Conference.